2.7-bn-yr-old water may hold clues to life on Earth, Mars

Washington: A team of scientists from UK and Canada has discovered ancient pockets of water, which have been isolated deep underground for billions of years and contain abundant chemicals known to support life. This water could be some of the oldest on the planet and may even contain life. Not just that, but the similarity between the rocks that trapped it and those on Mars raises the hope that comparable life-sustaining water could lie buried beneath the red planet`s surface. The findings may force us to rethink which parts of our planet are fit for life, and could reveal clues about how microbes evolve in isolation. Researchers from the universities of Manchester, Lancaster, Toronto and McMaster analysed water pouring out of boreholes from a mine 2.4 kilometres beneath Ontario, Canada. They found that the water is rich in dissolved gases like hydrogen, methane and different forms - called isotopes - of noble gases such as helium, neon, argon and xenon. Indeed, there is as much hydrogen in the water as around hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean, many of which teem with microscopic life. The hydrogen and methane come from the interaction between the rock and water, as well as natural radioactive elements in the rock reacting with the water. These gases could provide energy for microbes that may not have been exposed to the sun for billions of years. The crystalline rocks surrounding the water are thought to be around 2.7 billion years old. But no-one thought the water could be the same age, until now. Using ground-breaking techniques developed at the University of Manchester, the researchers show that the fluid is at least 1.5 billion years old, but could be significantly older. "We`ve found an interconnected fluid system in the deep Canadian crystalline basement that is billions of years old, and capable of supporting life," NERC-funded Professor Chris Ballentine of the University of Manchester, co-author of the study, and project director said. "Our finding is of huge interest to researchers who want to understand how microbes evolve in isolation, and is central to the whole question of the origin of life, the sustainability of life, and life in extreme environments and on other planets," he said. The research has been published in Nature. ANI